Joe Mantegna let the cat out of the bag yesterday via Twitter that Mike Welch would be appearing on an episode of Criminal Minds where Joe Mantegna is a series regular. Joe and Mike previously worked together on the short-lived but critically acclaimed Joan of Arcadia.

Larry 411 has more details including the air date.

“Welch came to prominence as uber-nerd Luke Girardi on two seasons of Joan of Arcadia, in which he co-starred with the masterful Joe Mantegna in 45 episodes from 2003-2005.

Now he reunites with Mantegna (Special Agent David Rossi) on a new episode of Criminal Minds. The show, titled JJ, will air on September 29th on the CBS network. Joan of Arcadia alum Chris Marquette, who’s worked with Welch several times since then (Choose Connor, Remember the Daze), will also be appearing on the episode.

The series has been in the Nielsen Top 20 for the past two seasons and is on the DVR Top 10. Criminal Minds is produced by The Mark Gordon Company and CBS Television Studios.”

Mike Welch, one of our favorite all time performers, is celebrating his 23rd birthday on Sunday. Now if you are going to be indoors with the A/C cranked because of the heat wave, what better way to spend it than with Mike? So set those DVR’s and celebrate with Mike on Sunday!

Mike really shows the long-term industry actor that he is. In our opinion, of the younger,minor members of the Twilight cast the only people with better resumes as far as duration and quality are Anna Kendrick and Dakota Fanning.

Michael Welch is one of the few Twilight actors who consistently does live theater. The others are Liz Reaser, Edi Gathegi, and Anna Kendrick.

Mike has given his support to the festival in the past. This yearly festival showcases the writing skills of student writers. Who knows the next Neil Simon could be in this crowd! According to the LA Times:

“When the Blank Theatre Company launches its 18th annual Young Playwrights Festival next month, the line-up will include 12 plays by dramatists ages 14 to 19 from six states. The festival, which runs June 3 to 27, will take place at the Stella Adler Theater in Hollywood.

The selected plays range from existential dramas to slapstick comedies. Each playwright is paired with a mentor and director, many of whom have experience in the theatrical or film and television industries.

Today is the slowest of slow news days and we feel a bit sorry for all the Twilight fans who check our site for any new news. So to give you all something to do, at least for a few seconds, we have decided to give away a copy of The Twilight Graphic Novel. To make your day even brighter, the copy we are giving away is autographed by Peter Facinelli and Mike Welch! We will pick one winner at random from those of you who comment bellow with the words “Pick me!”. Just for fun, tell us what your favorite quote from Twilight is when you post.

The Utah blog In This Week had the chance to interview Justin Chon, Mike Welch, and Christian Serratos before the Salt Lake City DVD release and signing.

“The priority for me was to first and foremost please the fanbase. How do you do that? You capture what Stephenie created to the best of your ability. So having Stephenie on set was an enormous help. Her approval meant more to me than anything. If she likes what you are doing with the character she created, you are on the right track. I respect film critics in what they do, but with what that said, and particularly in this case, I think that this franchise is accomplishing what it set out to do, which is to please the fans, ” Welch says.

The Deseret News has an account of the Salt Lake City DVD Release and a FABULOUS quote from Mike Welch.

“Three of the cast members slated to make an appearance, Justin Chon (Eric), Michael Welch (Mike) and Christian Serratos (Angela), said they expected the chaos that comes with the supernatural series.

“I would be, frankly, surprised if the DVD release wasn’t just as crazy as every other part of this franchise,” Welch said. “When the books come out it’s a crazy thing, when the movie comes out it’s a crazy thing, when Rob (Pattinson) is on the cover of GQ sales are up 40 percent of any GQ, ever, so I would expect nothing less from these magnificent, crazy, wonderful fans,” he said.

Welch said the cast enjoys getting to meet personally with the fans who have contributed to their success.

“We will be able to shake hands and look in people’s eyes and kiss babies just like we’re running for president,” Welch said. “It’s almost the least we can do; it’s only because of them that this thing is a big deal at all. I’m replaceable, they’re not,” he said.”

This is why when people ask the Lexicon admin team who they like the best in the cast part of the answer is Mike Welch!

Pel writing here. I have to say I never thought I’d be writing a title like the above. Anyway, after I came home from going out to dinner last night I find all these tweets about Alphie (Lori) singing Summer Nights from Grease with Mike Welch. My first thought was “surely I read that wrong” and my second thought was “tell me there is video, this I have to see.” So, Lori is probably going to kill me for doing this, but she’s in Atlanta and I’m a thousand miles away so what the heck

So apparently Creation Entertainment responded to fan request and now Karaoke With the Stars is part of their programming at a variety of their Conventions.

A HUGE thank you to Heidi from Twilight Facebook who I believe shot the video.

Mike Welch, alongside a bevvy of Hollywood talent from entertainment legends like Ed Asner to relative newcomers like Katherine McPhee are lending their talent to the emotional and touching play 110 Stories. Mike, unlike many of the Twilight cast, does live theater every year. Frequently his performances have charity outreach nights. Broadway.com describes the event:

“An all-star cast has joined together in Los Angeles for a special benefit reading of 110 Stories, at 8pm on February 22nd at The Geffen Playhouse (10886 Le Conte Avenue, Los Angeles 90024). Proceeds go to the RED CROSS of Greater Los Angeles.

New York playwright Sarah Tuft, has weaved more than thirty personal stories recorded in the aftermath of September 11th. “110 Stories” is the “people’s 9/11″ and the only non-politicized, non-sensationalized version of the events, created from first-person accounts of those directly involved. The play doesn’t recreate. Instead it aims to shed light on who we really are, as revealed by extreme circumstances.